


Mergers and Acquisitions

by NeurotropicAgentX



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal and Human Death, Canon-Typical Symbiote Death, Carlton Drake is Not Nice, Dehumanization, Essentially Torture, Gen, Imprisonment, Of Something That’s not a Human So :/, Unethical Experimentation, Use of Made-Up Sci-Fi Drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 09:42:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17404568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeurotropicAgentX/pseuds/NeurotropicAgentX
Summary: In another universe, the first rocket didn’t crash and Drake ends up with four symbiotes to investigate. The Life Foundation scientists make excellent progress due to the unique results they obtain from the silvery one, Drake’s favourite.In that universe, Riot finds itself trapped, starving and isolated from its team members. Getting access to a host body changes things, but not at all in the way it expected.





	Mergers and Acquisitions

**Author's Note:**

> In some ways a companion piece to [Human Resources](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16949586). If Riot’s ideal scenario is nightmarish for Drake, so too is Drake’s ideal scenario nightmarish for Riot. Shout out to my editor for her invaluable assistance.

‘Mr Drake?’

Drake tore his eyes away from the containment tanks and turned to give Dr Skirth his full focus. ‘What do you have for me?’ he asked.

‘I sent you the full data set from our last round of experiments, but I thought you might want the summary,’ she said.

He smiled at her. ‘Of course, go ahead.’

Her summary was about what he’d expected. The animal models showed fundamental biological incompatibility with the symbiotes, but the biggest problem was that the symbiotes seemed to _eat_ the animals before much useful data could be obtained. 

‘The most promising results are still coming from SX-2. The data suggest that it’s somehow re-writing the immune system of the animals… before eating them, of course. The other specimens aren’t doing anything like that.’

Drake raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the tanks. SX-2 was the silvery one. It would be unscientific for Drake to have a favourite. These were simply strange alien creatures that could be the answer to saving humanity. ‘Interesting,’ he murmured before turning back to Dr Skirth. ‘We’ll be moving on to human models tomorrow. We need useful data to give the biochemistry department if we’re ever going to achieve successful integration.’ 

He watched as she opened her mouth to protest and then caught herself. Obviously their little chat had left her with the right impression. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Oh, and if SX-2 is providing the best results, don’t try any of the riskier experiments on it. Pick one of the others. The first version of the control compound will be ready to go in a few days. Test it on SX-1.’

///

This wasn’t part of the plan. The rocket was meant to crash. Riot and the others were meant to be out there performing reconnaissance, not trapped, isolated from each other and… Riot wasn’t even completely certain what was happening to them all. Hunger roared through every cell of its body and maintaining higher thought was difficult. Riot _hurt_. This atmosphere was painful, hideously oxidising. Food was scarce, only brought in periodically. The idea of suitable hosts seemed like a fever dream. And most of the time Riot was in a tiny prison, protected from the poisonous atmosphere, but otherwise trapped, cut-off, alone.

Riot cared for its team members only so much as was practical, but it knew what isolation would do to it. There was a reason that scouting parties contained three members at a minimum. Being alone, without contact, without the chance to communicate and exchange signals, could drive anyone insane. Riot clung to the thought that maybe it had been singled out as the team leader. That the enemy out there who was controlling all of this was trying to break it. Maybe the rest of its subordinates were being held together. Maybe they had the opportunity to taste each other’s signals and feel each other’s tendrils and draw comfort from that. There wasn’t a lot Riot wouldn’t give right now to communicate with any of them. 

Riot’s prison opened, exposing it to the atmosphere. It cringed, tendrils drawing in, as if that would make any difference to the oxygen eating away at its flesh. The pain was almost worth it. An open prison meant food. Even through the thin, hostile atmosphere, Riot could sense the warm presence of living flesh. The alien stink of its fear was becoming a familiar sensation that sharpened the hunger from a body-wide ache to stabbing agony. Riot flowed across the cool, solid surfaces toward its prey. The sooner it fed, the sooner it would be out of this atmosphere. 

The prey was always small, inadequate and pathetically unsuited to being a host. However, inhabiting the small warm bodies, even for a few moments, meant respite from the atmosphere and the prison both. A tiny, sick part of Riot sometimes felt grateful for that. But it knew that was just the torture influencing it, getting its hooks in Riot’s mind. Riot clung to its sense of self with everything it had. There would be a way to get out of this situation. Its captors would make a mistake sooner or later and Riot would be ready.

Riot latched onto the warm alien flesh in front of it and slid inside. The oxidising pain was suddenly blissfully absent and Riot tore mindlessly into the meat of its prey to fix the hunger-pain. Something was different. The fact that it had taken this long for Riot to notice was a testament to how badly it was starving. This creature was big. Bigger than anything Riot had entered since arriving on this planet. Big enough to be a suitable host. Stopping its indiscriminate feeding was the hardest thing Riot had ever done. It screeched in anger, in hope and fear all at once. Hunger clawed at it, and food was surrounding it, but an intact host was more important right now. 

Riot forced itself to pay attention to the body it was inhabiting. This body wasn’t so different from the small inadequate prey. The immune system was already geared up, attacking both Riot and the damage Riot had caused with equal ferocity. Turning off the attack was a difficult, complex procedure and Riot was still aching with hunger. Feeding on the host had made the immune system just that much harder to deal with and Riot bitterly regretted its thoughtlessness. If only the body was just a bit more compatible, Riot might have had the time to fix the problem. But the temperature was already spiking in the host’s body and Riot could recognise the feel of an imminent cytokine storm. The mindless, un-evolved immune system would kill the host in a misguided attempt to kill Riot. 

In the last moments, Riot stopped trying to fix the damage and slid toward the region with the highest level of electrical activity. Might as well get what it could from the mind before the host became so much dead meat.

Riot’s tendrils slithered around rich flesh that was buzzing with electrical signals and a lot of interesting chemical messages. It sank into the trance-like state that gave it the quickest access to the host’s thoughts, memories and knowledge. In moments ( _seconds, minutes, centuries, twenty-eighteen_ ) Riot had learned a lot about this creature ( _Jim, man, human, veteran_ ) and even a little about this prison ( _Life Foundation, lab, experiment, Carlton, sign on the dotted line Jim_ ). It had learned enough for one last effort to keep this host. **Stop attacking me or we both die!** Riot signalled, using the host’s own communication infrastructure to make itself understood ( _ears, listen, audio, talk, shout_ ).

‘What? Who said – urgh! What’s happening?!’ Riot _heard_ the host’s words shouted into the poisonous air. If the host could stop its ( _his, Jim’s, what’s happening to me_ ) own immune system, it chose not to. Maybe it would rather they both die than give up its body to the person that was killing it. That had fed on it. If so, Riot was grudgingly impressed. Seconds later the host died and Riot had no choice but to taste the acrid, bitter tang of a painful cytokine storm and its own failure. It fed, consuming as much of the meat as its weakened body could handle. 

It retreated back to its prison afterwards. At least the boredom and solitude would be less oppressive now that it had new information to process. If Riot had been given access to a host once, maybe it would get access again. The next time it was given food it would be more careful. Riot was team leader for a reason. It was the best at modifying a hostile immune system quickly. The next host it got wouldn’t die. Not until Riot had used that body to escape. 

///

The prison didn’t open again for a long time. When it finally did, Riot was cautious. The hunger was unpleasant, but manageable. Riot hadn’t moved around a lot in its prison and the fuel from its last meal was able to sustain it. The air still hurt every moment Riot was exposed, but it wouldn’t rush this opportunity. If there was another human to occupy, that could change everything. It understood a lot more about its situation, having rifled through the last host’s mind.

Riot undulated across the laboratory floor toward the warm, rich taste-scent of meat. When it reached the body, Riot nearly screeched. This wasn’t a human! It was another animal ( _dog, pet, Lucky, man’s best friend_ ). Maybe the enemy ( _scientists, staff, Life Foundation, Carlton Drake_ ) had realised the dangers of letting Riot have a host. Maybe they were angry that it had killed one of their own. Still, food was food and the dog was at least bigger than the first food offerings had been. Riot would have some temporary respite from the air. 

Riot entered the dog and then stilled. What…? Riot tried to form feeding structures and… couldn’t. It started to panic. What was going on? Why couldn’t it take over or integrate or _feed_? This wasn’t a sophisticated host. There should be no difficulty here. 

The dog’s immune system was completely quiescent too. There wasn’t any reason for it not to be. This was like being in the prison, only somehow worse. Riot couldn’t shift or stretch or transform. This type of prolonged stillness only came with catastrophic injury or death. Riot’s membrane twitched, as close to a shiver of distress as it could manage right now. The dog scratched itself behind the ear. 

Calm down. Think. Scientists, the host had been thinking about scientists. _Experimentation_. Riot was an experiment to them. This, like the torture, was part of an experiment. They must have done something to the host, to the dog. And whatever it was was now happening to Riot. This host body couldn’t support a real symbiosis. It was too small. Even without the ability to take control, or feed, or act, or move, or feel – No. Focus. Stay in control. The enemy wants to break you. Don’t give in to panic. – It was only a matter of time before this body would die and Riot would be free again. 

So Riot waited. The dog eventually started making unpleasant high-pitched whining sounds and moving around a lot. Riot ran its own experiments while it waited, trying to understand the limits of the situation. It couldn’t feed, no matter what it did. Forming those structures was impossible. If it concentrated very hard it could manifest a few tendrils, briefly, even bladed tendrils, but the effort was exhausting and Riot had very little control over its projections. Maybe enough to threaten. 

As the dog’s body started losing integrity Riot found itself patching the wounds without consciously choosing to. The action was reflexive and seemed exempt from whatever was stopping it from exercising its will. That was an ugly feeling. At least it didn’t last much longer. Even Riot’s automatic healing couldn’t keep a body this small alive. 

The feeling of helplessness faded all too slowly and by then air had began its relentless assault on the exposed bits of Riot that were starting to seep out of the corpse. It formed feeding structures as soon as it was able to and fed. The meat tasted dead, and strangely sour, tainted, but that couldn’t be helped. Riot needed its strength. It slunk back to its prison afterwards, grateful to be able to move again.

///

Riot measured time by its hunger. The prison opened again before the ache had crossed over into agony. Riot didn’t know what to expect, whether there would be a host or an animal, whether the meat would be normal or tainted in some way. It slithered toward the prey, but hesitated at the last moment before making contact. The meat was large, maybe human-large. There were odd vibrations in the toxic air. Sound. 

Hunger won out, as was often the case. Riot’s tendrils wrapped around the meat ( _clothes, pants, fabric, laundry_ ) and it entered the body before it. The _human_ body. Riot held back its hunger with every last shred of its discipline. If it stayed focused it could fix the immune system before the near-inevitable attack. Riot flexed its tendrils and started to slide… no. No! This body had the same taint as the dog’s. Riot could barely move. It actually spread further when it wasn’t trying to do it consciously. Focus. This wasn’t new. Riot had experience with this situation. Besides, this was a human. A suitable host body with its own alien intelligence.

Riot relaxed as much as it could, feeling its tendrils creeping toward the major electronic centre of the body ( _brain, mind, soul_ ). At least communication didn’t require very much physical manipulation. Riot didn’t know if it would have dealt well with being silenced as well as stilled. **What have you done to me?** it demanded.

The host body released interesting chemicals in response to Riot’s question. This wasn’t the rich fear Riot had experienced in the previous human. This had a sharper, less savoury flavour. Then the host spoke. ‘ _Ohhh_ , you can communicate.’ 

**Of course. Why are they doing this to us? Where are the others?**

The host didn’t answer, but crossed the room toward the exit. It tapped on the glass. ‘The initial bonding appears to be a success on this end, how are the readings?’ it said. Riot was being ignored, so it tried to go into the trance state that would give it access to the host’s mind. Riot could barely feel the ends of its tendrils, but maybe they were close enough to the brain.

Information, thoughts and memories trickled through to Riot. In its current state it couldn’t direct the process like usual, but there was still data to process. The host was definitely human ( _Carlton Drake, human, CEO, Life Foundation_ ). Riot was wrenched out of the trace state. Drake. The first host had thought about Drake. Had seen him as some kind of team leader. The controller/organiser. The enemy.

If Riot had been able to it would have torn into this body. Slowly. **You. This is your prison. Your scientists. Your doing,** Riot growled, straining to move its body, to attack. Pointless.

There was more communication ( _conversation, friendly chat, dialogue, results-driven_ ) between Riot’s host and the humans on the other side of the glass. The door opened. Riot stopped trying to struggle and focused. It had a limited ability to act if it concentrated and used all of its strength. It waited for an opportunity.

The host approached a group of humans. One of them stepped forward. Not quite close enough. ‘Mr Drake, I don’t think this is a good idea. Our data are limited and you should be monitored in a controlled environment.’

‘I understand, really, and I’ll head back down here shortly, but I need a moment to adjust in a familiar environment. Plus I really can’t emphasis the hunger enough.’ Drake bared his teeth ( _smile, grin, friendly, PR_ ).

The scientist ( _Dr Skirth, department head, two children_ ) took a step closer. Riot was ready. Gathering every last scrap of strength and focus, Riot pushed itself to manifest. Two thin tendrils. Pathetic, but perhaps enough. One tendril coiled around Skirth’s wrist and pulled her closer, the other was a sharp blade that Riot pressed against her flesh ( _throat, neck, pulse, carotid artery_ ). All the humans in the room went quiet.

‘Fascinating,’ Drake breathed. Skirth made a sharp sound that Riot could feel against its tendril-blade.

‘I wanted to avoid this,’ Drake murmured. Maybe quietly enough that the other human couldn’t hear him. In a louder voice Drake went on. It took Riot a couple of seconds to realise the host was speaking aloud to it. ‘You’re scared and alone on an alien planet and you don’t understand what’s happening to you. I was going to give us some privacy to talk and answer your questions. It’s not surprising that you’ve lashed out like this, but I don’t think it’s wise.’ Drake was still smiling as he spoke, his voice calm and even. 

**I’m strong enough to kill your people. Maybe I’ll kill you and find a host that isn’t tainted,** Riot snarled. It was an empty threat. Its blade was wavering, melting back into a normal touch-tendril. Shivers worked through its membrane as it struggled to hold its position. There was something terribly wrong with it, with this host.

There was no fear in Drake’s bloodstream. If anything, he tasted vaguely amused. ‘If you hurt one of my people, what do you think happens next? What do you think happens to the others? We’ve learned a lot about you, including things like your reaction to certain sounds.’

So, this host understood threats. Riot’s tendrils were already starting to seep back into the host anyway. Having an excuse to stop pushing might at least disguise how much effort it had taken. **Then let’s talk,** Riot growled and let its tendrils melt back beneath Drake’s skin. 

‘Wait, were you communicating with SX-2? Is it… can… is it a person? Are the symbiotes _sapient_?’ Skirth asked.

‘Debatable,’ Drake said, still smiling. ‘I’m not sure if it can understand me on any meaningful level, but a soothing tone is generally effective and I had to try _something_. I couldn’t let anything happen to any of you. But it’s probably best if no one discusses what happened here. This is all highly sensitive information subject to the usual policies regarding the non-disclosure of intellectual property.’ 

**I understood every word you said, you empty scavenger!** Riot snarled. Drake ignored it.

There was a chorus of agreement from the scientists. 

‘Good. I’m heading up to my office for an early and extensive lunch. I’ll be running my own informal experiment about any changes in my dietary needs.’ He gave a light laugh. ‘And then I’ll be back down here and we can run the full battery of tests. Congratulations, team. I think we might have solved it.’ He shook hands with Skirth and a few of the other scientists. Riot didn’t bother interjecting. It was starting to understand what Drake was doing. _Why_ it mattered whether Drake’s people knew Riot could communicate was another question entirely. 

Drake moved through the building, heading upward. That pleased some buried instinct in Riot’s consciousness. Upward meant more light, energy and prey and less pressure. All of this was less relevant in a gaseous atmosphere, but Riot was prepared to latch onto any positive change. They passed many humans and Riot didn’t try and talk to Drake. It knew there wouldn’t be an answer. But eventually they stopped in a large empty room and Drake spoke. 

‘My name is Carlton Drake. As you… deduced… that was my laboratory and those were my scientists. We’ve been studying you for some time now in an attempt to create and stabilise a bond between your species and mine.’

 **Symbiosis. You would have had more luck if you weren’t starving and torturing us. We know how to bond with other lifeforms. Your species isn’t even difficult,** said Riot.

There was a flicker of embarrassment from Drake. ‘Yes. Well. We had no idea you were sapient. Do you have a name?’

It debated withholding the information, but there wasn’t anything Drake could do with its name. **Riot.**

‘Riot,’ Drake repeated. ‘I’m pleased to meet you. I’m having food brought in shortly. I can feel how hungry you are.’

Riot wouldn’t have been hungry if it could use this host properly. **What have you done to me? Why can’t I move?** It wasn’t expecting a direct answer from Drake, but that didn’t matter. Asking the question helped bring the knowledge forward in the host mind and even compromised as it was, Riot could skim surface thoughts effortlessly. 

‘It’s… complicated,’ Drake said after a moment. 

**SXCC-7,** Riot said promptly. **A drug, chemical compound…** Drake didn’t have the technical words for the structure that loomed in his mind and Riot wasn’t familiar with how humans classified such things anyway. 

‘Where did you hear that?’ Drake asked sharply. 

**From you, just now,** Riot said, injecting as much threat into its tone as it could. **Your mind is completely open to me, human. There is nowhere to hide your thoughts.**

There was a hint of apprehension in Drake, but it was mostly drowned out beneath a tide of fascination and curiosity. ‘Really? Even past the drug? Interesting. We developed the compound to stop you from eating the hosts you entered. It’s a paralytic, mostly. It has some immunomodulatory effects too, but that’s acting on me rather than you.’ 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. There was a strange sensation of hunger feedback from the host body. Riot had been releasing unconscious signals into Drake’s bloodstream and the human body had seemed to have picked up the cues and amplified them. Saliva flooded Drake’s mouth and his strange, complex viscera shifted and made noises. ‘That would be the food,’ Drake murmured. He crossed the room and opened the door.

A new human walked in, pushing a laden trolley. ‘Here’s the food you wanted, Mr Drake.’ The human smiled at Drake. ‘So, you missed breakfast, then?’

Drake chuckled. ‘Something like that. This all looks wonderful, please give my thanks to the canteen staff.’ 

‘Is there anything else I can I get for you?’

‘No, that will be all for now.’

The human nodded and left, leaving the food behind. This was bizarre. Just how resource-rich was this planet that Drake could have food _brought_ to him if he ordered it? That he didn’t have to hunt for every meal? Even the core leaders back on the homeworld hunted for themselves. While Riot enjoyed the pleasures of a good hunt, of struggling prey, having food brought like this was also strangely satisfying. 

And it was food, apparently. Drake’s body was very insistent that this smelled good and would sate the hunger burn currently twisting inside him. Riot couldn’t tell with the SXCC-7 corrupting its senses. It wanted to manifest, catch the scent of food in the air, but that would have pointlessly drained its strength. For now it decided to rely on its passive access to Drake’s senses.

‘What do you eat?’ Drake asked. ‘Apart from your host,’ he added with a wry twist of his lips.

Riot would have been swirling and bristling beneath Drake’s skin if it had the ability to. It could feel Drake’s hunger as immediately as its own, but for some reason he was still delaying, still _talking_ instead of feeding. Just like he had with the human who had brought the food. **Fresh meat. Living meat. Prey. Stop _hesitating_.**

‘Of course.’ Drake picked up an object _(plate, dish, pottery, ceramic)_ and methodically selected food. ‘Alright, these are all meat. Let me know what you think.’

Drake sat and named each food out loud before taking a bite. 

**Dead,** Riot said contemptuously to ‘chicken’, ‘pork’ and ‘beef’. To Drake’s credit he moved on to the next one each time without comment.

 **Wait. That one is fine,** Riot said when they got to ‘fish’. It wasn’t nearly as good as live prey, but it did soothe Riot’s hunger at least a little.

‘Hmm, so _raw_ meat, perhaps. What do you think of this fish?’ Drake asked before taking a bite of the next food.

It was similar to the first fish, but not nearly as suitable. **Dead.**

Drake took another bite of the first good fish and drummed his fingers on his desk. Then he pressed a button. ‘Hi, Amanda, could you please have the canteen send up some raw steaks? The more unprocessed the better. Also contact the labs to bring up some live mice that aren’t part of any of the current projects.’

A distorted voice answered. ‘Yes, Mr Drake.’

‘Great, thanks,’ Drake replied and let go of the button. ‘Humans mostly cook food,’ Drake said to Riot. ‘It makes it easier for our digestive systems to extract nutrients and energy. And there’s a disease component too, but that’s less relevant now that I have you, isn’t it?’ 

Drake finished the rest of the good fish and sampled other non-meat foods. Nothing else did anything for Riot’s hunger, though Drake’s body gradually stopped sending its own messages about hunger. Had Riot not been paralysed by Drake’s compound, that would have been enough to sustain it. It could have fed off the host body to sate its hunger, and then rebuilt the organs using the energy the host consumed. If it felt like rebuilding them.

There was another knock on the door. Riot couldn’t tell if this was a new human or the one from before. The human and Drake exchanged meaningless words again, but Riot’s attention was focused on the warm prey skittering about in a little prison.

‘Well,’ said Drake after they were alone again. ‘I’m prepared to eat raw meat for you, but I think I’ll have to draw the line at whole live animals. You projected your body outside of me before. Do you think you could do that again? Could you eat a mouse if I gave one to you?’

Riot hesitated. The allure of fresh prey was very strong, especially while hunger was gnawing at its body, but manifesting would drain what little strength it had been conserving. Worth it, perhaps, for feeding. What else would it use that strength for anyway? **Yes. I could feed like that,** Riot admitted.

‘Excellent.’ Drake reached into the cage and grabbed a mouse. Then he made a sharp noise when it sank teeth into his hand. He didn’t let go and Riot patched the wound instinctively, hating itself for doing so. ‘Thank you,’ Drake said with a smile, like Riot had _chosen_ to help him. He held the mouse close to where Riot had manifested to threaten the scientist. 

With a surge of effort, Riot gathered its strength and forced a single feeding tendril out through Drake’s skin to wrap around the mouse. The structures were weak, barely formed, but it was just enough for Riot to crunch through the prey and absorb it. The dip in its hunger was sheer blissful relief. Drake was staring at Riot’s tendril with a deep fascination, but he was also already reaching into the cage for another mouse. That was good. Right now, Riot wasn’t above asking for more, despite how degrading it was to be fed like this by a host. Like Riot couldn’t hunt the most basic, tiny prey.

Drake was holding the mouse by its tail and the creature thrashed, trying to bite him. He lowered the prey to Riot’s waiting tendril. Riot fed. 

‘Look at you,’ Drake said softly. His other hand traced Riot’s tendril, keeping well away from the sharp edges. A light, fizzing taste was seeping through his bloodstream and he was staring fixedly at the small curl of Riot’s flesh. Two mice were as much as Riot could manage and it melted back beneath Drake’s skin, its strength exhausted. The hunger was far less urgent now, but it hadn’t gone completely. 

Drake hummed to himself. ‘That’s all you can manage right now?’

 **Yes,** Riot said, letting resentment seep into its tone. **Hungry,** it added.

Drake picked up the plate that had arrived with the prey. He took it back to his desk and cut off a piece of the food with the artificial blades ( _knife, fork, cutlery_ ) from before. He eyed the food and sighed. ‘Raw steak,’ he said out loud and ate. The body didn’t seem to like this the way it had the good fish, but Drake kept eating until the ‘raw steak’ was finished and Riot felt its hunger wane to nothing. 

‘There’s got to be a better way to do that,’ Drake said after he’d finished the good food. ‘I’m going to have my scientists look into whatever compounds you get out of raw meat and have them synthesise a pill or something.’ Then he paused. ‘When you said that all my thoughts were accessible to you, that was an oversimplification, wasn’t it?’

 **What do you mean?** Riot asked grudgingly, unwilling to provide even a hint about its abilities or their limits. 

Drake was silent for a long moment. ‘Earlier you asked about your… comrades?’

 **Subordinates,** Riot corrected. A moment later it tried to coil in around itself. Stupid to let that information slip. **What about them?** it asked quickly, hoping Drake hadn’t noticed.

‘Subordinates,’ Drake repeated smoothly, ‘I see. There were some complications. During the testing. I think it’s better you hear it from me now, rather than finding out about it from my thoughts at some later time.’

There was a thick bitter taste in Drake’s bloodstream as he spoke and it made dread well up in Riot’s core. **What happened? Tell me,** it demanded.

‘Some versions of SXCC weren’t as stable as the current one. One of your subordinates died during an early testing phase. I’m so sorry.’

The bitter taste was guilt, was _sorrow_ from Drake. He mourned the loss, as if he had any _idea_ what he’d done to them. What he was still doing to them.

 **Who?** Riot asked, rage transforming its tone into something soft and deadly. **Who did you murder with your little experiments?**

Drake stayed silent, but an image rose sharp and clear in his mind. It was Incisor. Incisor spilling from the body of a tiny inadequate host, barely able to twitch on the laboratory floor, likely paralysed with some toxic version of the SXCC compound. The poisonous air ate away at its body as the humans watched on, too cowardly to enter the room. The name SX-1 hovered over the series of images in Drake’s mind.

 **Incisor,** Riot said. **Its name was Incisor, not SX-1.**

‘So you can read my thoughts,’ Drake said slowly. His tone softened again. ‘I am truly sorry. We had no idea you were people.’

 **And now you do know, but that doesn’t really change anything for you, does it?** Riot asked. Drake stayed silent, but Riot could skim the answer from his thoughts. **This is a travesty of true symbiosis! You have access to a fraction of my power, of our combined potential. Stop taking the compound. Let me show you what we could be together.** Riot dug into its own memories of previous hosts, of the occasional moments of necessary symbioses where it had moved as one with a host body, revelled in the power and freedom of true strength. These moments didn’t last long as hosts were food, to be used and consumed until the next pliable body came along, but Riot didn’t touch those memories. Instead it sent the visions of compatibility and power to Drake through the weak, half-present link he’d forced on them. **This is what you could have!**

Drake’s breath caught and the pulse in his arteries sped up. An interesting chemical cocktail bloomed in him, not quite like anything Riot had tasted before. 

‘That is… quite something,’ Drake said. ‘What a pity I don’t trust you.’

Riot screeched. **You don’t trust me because you assume everyone is as twisted as you!** Its surface would be seething with blades and teeth, ready to tear through this host body if only it could. Drake was right not to extend his trust, but that only fed Riot’s hate. No species had ever done this, had manage to trap, to _use_ , even a single one of Riot’s people. _They_ invaded and consumed and used hosts, not the other way around.

‘Every threat you’ve made, every hint of rage you’ve shown, even if you have the ability to control your instincts to feed, you’ve given me no reason to think you would. I don’t want you or your people to suffer, Riot. I truly think you’re all magnificent and that together our species could become something great. Something _transcendent_ , but I also think having human hands on the reins is the best way to achieve this. But maybe your people will see it my way. Who knows what will happen in generations of symbiosis? Maybe we won’t need the drug by then.’

A cold feeling clenched in Riot’s core. It could almost imagine that, generations of its people enslaved to these human hosts. Individuals that had grown up never knowing the sheer joy of controlling a host body, of hunting and slaughtering prey with their own teeth and tendrils. Individuals that wouldn’t know that they could take over, who wouldn’t even _try_ even after the drug was withdrawn. Riot would have shivered. The vision was sick, horrifying, in the deepest ways imaginable. It didn’t share these thoughts with Drake. Reinforcing his mistrust wouldn’t achieve anything. 

**Take me to Venom and Alkali. I need to communicate with them. You own me that much, at least. You owe _them_ some reassurance.** Riot wasn’t just thinking about reassuring or explaining things to the others. It was wondering if maybe it should tell them not to enter any hosts they were provided with and avoid ending up trapped. What was the worse fate? Trapped in this human host, unable to do anything but passively heal the body and communicate, or slow starvation and poisoning in the hostile atmosphere of this waste-planet? Riot was the team leader. It owed them an answer. 

‘Venom and Alkali? SX-3 and SX-4? Um, the black one and the blue one?’

**Venom is the black one. Alkali is the blue one.**

‘There’s one more thing you should know about regarding SX, ah, regarding Venom,’ Drake corrected himself quickly.

 **What about Venom?** Riot growled. 

‘It’s not dead. As far as we can tell. An unauthorised human broke into the lab and stole it. Kidnapped it, I suppose. Somehow they managed to form a stable symbiosis.’

That was a surprise. Who knew _Venom_ of all people could form a symbiosis under the worst conditions possible? The host had to have been compatible if they managed to escape the laboratory together. **So at least one us is out of your grasp,** Riot mused. A complex cascade of feelings ran through it. Incisor dead, Alkali captured, Venom missing, but perhaps in the best position of them all to complete the mission. Riot didn’t think Venom would be back to rescue them. Not if they didn’t have the strength to escape themselves.

‘Venom was abducted by a idiot who has no idea what he’s gotten himself into,’ Drake snapped. A hot tide of anger rose in him, washing against Riot’s outer membrane. Good. An angry enemy made mistakes.

**Then let me signal with Alkali. The last one of us you have.**

Drake let out a long slow breath. ‘Yes, of course. I’ve been running through a list of candidates for someone I would trust to bond with… Alkali. The top contender is currently taking SXCC-7 to make sure it doesn’t react badly with him. If all goes well, he’ll be ready in a day or two. I’d welcome an opportunity for you to explain to Alkali what’s going to happen.’

A host prison or an inorganic prison. Complete loss of autonomy or slow starvation. **Take us there,** was all Riot said.

///

Down in the lab, Drake breezed through the group of waiting scientists. ‘Sorry to put your experiments on hold again, but I want to put SX-2 and SX-4 in the same room. There’s something I want to test.’

‘Sir, that’s incredibly risky,’ one scientist pointed out. ‘We have no data on what two symbiotes could to a human body, even one dosed with SXCC-7.’

‘I assure you I’ll be perfectly safe. And if not, that’s got to be a useful data point,’ he added with a smile. 

The scientists tried to argue with him some more, but in the end they backed down. Only Skirth, the one Riot had threatened, didn’t say anything. She stood in one corner, watching Drake with her lips pressed together over her teeth. 

The room they were keeping Alkali’s prison in was just like Riot’s. The surfaces were cold, barren, smooth and the room brimmed with the same atmosphere as everywhere else on this forsaken planet. The scientists released the dog into the room first. It was the biggest animal they had, barring a human, and Drake wasn’t prepared to sacrifice another of his own kind when he already had the answers he wanted. Then Drake went into the room.

The dog sniffed around the floor for a minute and then sat down. Drake walked over to it and let it sniff him. He patted it with one hand and signalled the scientists with the other. Alkali’s prison opened and Riot would have cringed in sympathetic pain if it could move. The dog whined as Alkali slithered along the floor toward it. ‘Easy girl,’ Drake murmured, keeping his hand buried in the fur below its skull.

Alkali flowed into the dog and Riot extended a tendril into the body as well.

 **Alkali, it’s me. Try to keep the body alive so we can trade signals.** They wouldn’t have privacy, but at least this way Alkali wouldn’t be suffering while they communicated. Riot couldn’t let itself forget that Drake had access to this conversation too. 

**Riot!? You have a host. We _made_ it,** The taste of Alkali’s relief, its hope, twisted something deep and painful in Riot. **Help me, _please_. I’m starving, it hurts, I hate this, hungry dying, _help_.**

 **It will be over soon,** Riot sent haltingly. What could it tell Alkali? Suffer? Die? Don’t let itself be captured and used. Like Riot had. **I’m not in control. The humans have a way to paralyse us within the host body.**

Alkali’s distress was an acrid taste against Riot’s receptors. **That was real? I thought I dreamed that. It was a prey body, not a host body. I couldn’t move. It was like being dead.**

**It was real.**

**What do I do? Riot? What do I do?** The signal was garbled with stress.

Riot hesitated. **They will offer you a host like mine soon. Tainted with the paralytic. You should.** Riot cut off its own signal abruptly. It wished it had the freedom to coil in on itself, even for a moment.

**Riot?**

**It’s better than starving or the slow poison of this atmosphere!** it finally sent as a brutal flood of signal. **It doesn’t hurt,** it added more gently.

 **Yes. I understand.** Riot could taste Alkali’s resolve. It was a good scout, strong.

 **You can feed now. We’ll signal again when you have a host too.** Riot withdrew its tendril. Even that much conversation had left it weak and tired.

‘I’m glad you reassured your subordinate and helped convince it to take the host we offered,’ Drake said quietly.

 **That wasn’t for you!** Riot snarled.

‘Nonetheless.’ Riot could feel his smile.


End file.
